Vinos Cambronero

We are a family winery that produces organic signature wines. To do this, it is not sufficient to produce organic grapes, but rather, exceptional conditions for both the grapes and the wine-making process are necessary. Our main leading edge is that we only have a one winegrower, who, moreover, is the oenologist of the winery. These accounts for the existence of one and the same objective all throughout the production process: to obtain a wine of excellent quality.

TRADITION
Francisco Cambronero Torres (Franchete) started the vine-growing tradition when he planted the first vines in the early years of the last century. In 1983, Francisco Cambronero Pérez, alongside his brother Antonio, constructed the winery to process the grapes from these crops. In 1999 Francisco Cambronero Pérez, alongside his children Francisco, Encarna, Isabel and Lola, created the company Vinos Cambronero S.L., which currently operates the family winery.

THE TERROIR
The area of production is located in the autonomous region of Castilla la Mancha. The region is located to the northeast of the province of Albacete, between the Júcar and Cabriel Rivers. It enjoys a continental climate, with slight influences of Mediterranean temperatures and little rain. The weather conditions are extreme with temperatures nearing -20ºC in winter and 45ºC in summer. This, joined with the low humidity content of the air, helps control plagues, due to which it is relatively easy to produce extremely high-quality organic wines. The vineyards, located at an average height 650 meters, receive warm, dry winds from the west on summer days, whilst at night the winds are fresh and damp, from the Mediterranean. Thus, the thermal difference between night and day during the grape's ripening process is very pronounced. This special climate favours the formation of polyphenols on the grapes, and makes this region the perfect location for obtaining superior quality red and rosé wines.

THE VINEYARD
The family farm consists of 52 hectares of vineyards cultivated with the Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Petit Verdot, Bobal, Tempranillo and Alicante Bouschets varieties, in accordance with the methods of organic farming. Of this surface area, approximately 10 hectares are dry lands with the vines cultivated in vessels, 21 hectares are dry lands with the vines on trellises and 21 hectares are irrigated lands with trellises. The difference between the grapes begins with the design of the vineyard. Our trellises are unique in the area. They are two meters high, and formation takes place at one metre and twenty centimeters. The density of the plantation is around three thousand six hundred plants per hectare. The great height of the vine ensures a greater surface area of the leaf exposed to sunlight, which is essential for the optimum ripening of the grapes.
With the leaf formation so high, we raise the clusters from the ground in order to achieve two purposes:
- On one hand, this decreases the humidity emanating from the soil in the area where the clusters are and increases aeration amongst them, decreasing the risk of fungal diseases. This is very important in organic farming, since disease prevention reduces the use of pesticides in wine growing.
- On another hand, the soil accumulates heat during the day and releases it at night.
Separating the clusters from the soil increases the thermal difference between day and night in the grapes. This thermal difference is very important to the proper ripening of the polyphenols so vital in obtaining high quality red and rosé wines. Our region enjoys one of the greatest differences in temperature between day and night, but by accentuating this fact, we are exploiting this difference even more, thus obtaining better grapes. With such a high plantation density, we are able to stop growth prematurely so as to obtain smaller grapes, while at the same time reducing the production of grapes per plant. This concept of vineyard is complemented by our cultivation system, which does not limit itself to organic farming, but moves beyond to obtain grapes of the maximum quality. Our irrigation system focuses on the production of a very small size of grape, in order to obtain a greater amount of skin per kilo of grape, so as to get the best possible raw material.

THE WINES
Since 2000, when its Guarantee of Origin began, VINOS CAMBRONERO, S.L. has bottled its wines V.C.P.R.D MANCHUELA under the brand FRANCHETE. The concept of our present mode of cultivation is not included in the regulations governing the production of the MANCHUELA Guarantee of Origin, so that at present our organic wines are bottled as VINO DE LA TIERRA DE CASTILLA, under the FRANCHETE brand. As of now, we are preparing a set of regulations that will define the differentiated quality of our wines for their acknowlement under their own Guarantee of Origin, as Organic Vineyard Wines.